Tuesday, July 19, 2011

UPDATE (July 19): The Daily News reports — Local ILWU dock workers willcontinue to fight to work at the EGT Development grain terminal at thePort of Longview despite the company's weekend announcement that it'shiring a Federal Way union contractor. EGT announced Sunday that it hireda union contractor to employ about 25 to 35 workers. The company wouldlikely hire from IUOE Local 701, based out of Gladstone, Ore. Two messagesleft at Local 701′s headquarters were not returned Monday. Ed Taylor,president of IUOE Local 612 based out of Tacoma, said the EGT terminal isout of his jurisdiction and his local would not claim work from otherunions, such as the ILWU. Local 701 has not said whether it would undercutthe ILWU either.

UPDATE (July 18): The Daily News reports — In a move that "stunned" thelocal longshore leadership, EGT Development announced Sunday it will hirea union contractor to staff 25 to 35 jobs at its terminal. FederalWay-based General Construction Co., a subsidiary of Kiewit InfrastructureWest Co., which hires workers through the International Union of OperatingEngineers, will start working at the terminal this week, EGT officialssay.

By David GrovesThe Stand

LONGVIEW (July 15) — The biggest labor dispute in Washington state —spawning one of the more militant union campaigns in decades — ishappening right here, right now. About 100 union members were cited andarrested earlier this week in Longview, and yesterday hundreds morecrowded onto railroad tracks to block a mile-long train.

Here's what's going on.

EGT Development, a joint venture of Japan-based Itochu Corp, South Korea'sSTX Pan Ocean and St. Louis-based Bunge North America, is using non-unionlabor to handle grain in the testing phase of its new $200 millionfacility at the Port of Longview. All other grain export terminals fromthe Columbia River to the Puget Sound have successfully and profitablyworked with unionized labor for decades.

Talks between EGT executives and the International Longshore and WarehouseUnion Local 21, which has a contract for all longshore work on Portproperty, about becoming signatory to the area standard contract brokedown months ago and the company has refused to return to the table.Instead, EGT has sued the Port in federal court, arguing that the companywas not bound by the contract with Local 21 to hire union labor on itsleased site. The company claims that keeping the facility's 50 full-timeworkers non-union will save EGT $1 million a year.

Now, after months of picketing and attempts to pressure EGT to return tothe table, the ILWU members are angry.

"We are going to fight for our jobs in our jurisdiction. We have workedthis dock for 70 years, and to have a big, rich corporation come in andsay, 'We don't want you,' is a problem," ILWU 21 President Dan Coffmantold the (Longview) Daily News. "We're all together. We're all going tojail as a union."

And go to jail they did. At a July 11 protest, members tore down achain-link gate and stormed the EGT grain terminal. About 100 union dockworkers, including union leaders, were cited and arrested. It was thelatest of four large-scale demonstrations the ILWU has held in the lasttwo months. On June 3, more than 1,000 ILWU supporters from Washington toCalifornia rallied outside EGT's headquarters in downtown Portland. Theprotests have all been loud, but nonviolent.

"Union longshore workers have made the Northwest one of the mostproductive grain exporting regions in the world," Coffman said. "This newgrain terminal stands to gain by playing by the same rules as the othergrain operators that are making lots of money with productive unionworkers."

From the start, EGT has been trying to run its new facility on the cheap.Despite high unemployment in Cowlitz County and the availability ofhundreds of skilled union building trades workers, the Northwest LaborPress reports that EGT imported the vast majority of its constructioncrews from low-wage communities out-of-state and did not pay area standardwages.

To make matters worse, Washington taxpayers subsidized EGT's constructionof the terminal. Operators of grain elevators like EGT get a special statetax exemption entitling them to a "remittance equal to one hundred percentof the amount of tax paid for qualifying construction, materials, service,and labor."

So, to sum up: a taxpayer-subsidized international conglomerate, which isoperating on public property, is suing the public so it can avoid payingthe area's standard wages and undercut its competitors that do.

"By far this is the most intense labor event that I can remember," CowlitzCounty Sheriff Mark Nelson told the Daily News. But he said he understandswhat the union is trying to accomplish even though he didn't agree withits tactics. "Bless their hearts. These are our neighbors, too. These areour folks. This is our community."

Stay tuned to The Stand for updates on this dispute and for informationabout what you can do to support the ILWU 21 members in their struggle tomaintain standards at the Port of Longview.